Karlsson steers away from Melnyk's words, but praises support by Senators fans

While Melnyk also suggested that a new arena at LeBreton Flats wasn’t necessarily a given and/or a necessity for the Senators long-term survival in Ottawa, Karlsson did offer his opinion that a downtown arena would be a benefit.

After playing perhaps his best game of the season in Saturday’s 3-0 outdoor classic win over the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators captain Erik Karlsson is skating away from trouble.

Karlsson did his best to stickhandle around the controversial comments uttered Friday by Senators owner Eugene Melnyk.

In case you somehow missed the highly-explosive word bombs Melnyk dropped, he suggested that if attendance doesn’t improve, he could either move the franchise or dramatically cut payroll.

“That’s none of our business,” Karlsson said following Monday’s practice, in preparation for Tuesday’s game against the Minnesota Wild. “That’s what he worries about. We worry about playing hockey. That’s all we can control. That’s what we get paid to do. We show up here every day and do the best we can at what we do.”

It’s intriguing that Karlsson chose to take the high road on Melnyk’s outburst, mumblings that forced NHL commissioner Gary Bettman into damage control in the hours leading up the outdoor game. Bettman tried to calm fears of Senators fans by correctly stating that no team can move without the approval of the league’s board of governors.

Back on Nov. 30, Karlsson was called out by the Senators after he told reporters that he wouldn’t accept any kind of hometown discount in order to stay in Ottawa. If and when he becomes an unrestricted free agent following the 2018-19 season, he said he wanted to be paid his proper market value.

Come Monday, though, Karlsson was all business in staying away from business talk.

“Those are things that are out of my control, there’s nothing I can do about that,” he said when asked about Melnyk’s suggestion that cuts to the payroll could be necessary. “Whatever he chooses to say is on him. We just worry about showing up wherever we’re told to.”

Karlsson is, however, in control of what happens with his next contract. But pressed over and over again on the topic, he was in deflection mode, turning aside the questions to focus on the present.

“I’m happy right now, happy where I’m at, worried about making sure we get out of this slump we’re in right now and making the post-season this season.”

If we didn’t know any better, we might guess that he was coached just a little bit on how to best handle the colossal distraction that Melnyk has created.

While Melnyk also suggested that a new arena at LeBreton Flats wasn’t necessarily a given and/or a necessity for the Senators long-term survival in Ottawa, Karlsson did offer his opinion that a downtown arena would be a benefit.

“I’ve only been here when the rink has been here, it’s hard for me to comment,” said Karlsson. “But I do think that it would be better with a rink downtown, just for commuting and (because) there’s more people down there. I think it will be a cool experience to have a rink in downtown Ottawa since we have a beautiful city.”

While most Senators fans are outraged at the Senators’ owner – claiming that his words and actions have made a significant contribution to declining attendance, including failing to sell out every playoff game last spring – the Senators’ captain couldn’t say enough about the franchise’s fans.

“This is a great market, it has always treated us really well, whether things are going well or the few times when things haven’t gone so well,” he said. “You don’t only feel it coming to games. You feel it moving around the city. I spend (almost) all my time here in the off-season.”

Karlsson says Senators fans are proud of having a team they can call their own.

Early indications are that Tuesday’s attendance will again be disappointing. Sandwiched between the outdoor game and Christmas, money is tight and time is at a premium. There’s also no natural rivalry with the Wild, no brewing animosity between the teams.

Karlsson, though, was still bursting with enthusiasm on Monday, while thinking back to the 34,000 who braved the cold to watch at Lansdowne Park on Saturday.

“Having the stands full from warm-up to the last seconds of the game was really spectacular,” Karlsson said. “They did a good job with everything around it. We got to enjoy more than just a game and the fans did most of the hard work and we appreciate that a lot.”

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